NCRL News and Events

We caught up with graphic novelist Gene Luen Yang this week, just days before his arrival in North Central Washington. He was traveling between speaking engagements, but kindly pulled off at the nearest exist to chat on his cell phone from the side of the road. Here's what the award-winning writer/illustrator and National Ambassador for Young People's Literature had to say:

NCRL: What do you plan to talk about during your upcoming visit?

GLY: I'll be talking about graphic novels in general. In schools, I'll focus on the "Secret Coders" series. It teaches kids the basics of computer science, and especially targets middle-grade students. For the general audience, I plan to talk about how I got started in graphic novels and a bit about my Reading Without Walls program.

NCRL: How did you get started in graphic novels?

GLY: I began collecting comics in fifth grade. Then I started making my own. With comics, the dividing line between who is a reader and who is a creator is almost not there. Anyone can make a comic. I've basically made comics ever since.

NCRL: What do you plan to talk about during your upcoming visit?

GLY: I'll be talking about graphic novels in general. In schools, I'll focus on the "Secret Coders" series. It teaches kids the basics of computer science, and especially targets middle-grade students. For the general audience, I plan to talk about how I got started in graphic novels and a bit about my Reading Without Walls program.

NCRL: How did you get started in graphic novels?

GLY: I began collecting comics in fifth grade. Then I started making my own. With comics, the dividing line between who is a reader and who is a creator is almost not there. Anyone can make a comic. I've basically made comics ever since.

NCRL: Can you explain your Reading Without Walls program?

GLY: Every ambassador picks a platform. For me, it's Reading Without Walls. I want students to explore their world through reading. Reading books about people who aren't like them; books about topics they might now know anything about; and books in a variety of formats.

NCRL: How important is it for kids to read stories with characters who do and don't look and live like they do themselves?

GLY: When we read stories about people who look like us and come from a similar cultural background, it serves as a mirror. It can give us a sense of validation. It makes us feel like we matter. When we read books about people who don't look like us and live like us, it's a window. We are given the privilege of seeing the world through someone else's eyes. It helps up build empathy and compassion. Reading books about people like us helps us to love ourselves. Reading books about people who aren't like us helps us to love our neighbors. Both are cornerstones of a just and compassionate society.

NCRL: When is the last time you read outside of your comfort zone?

GLY: Raymie Nightingale by Kate DiCamillo, which is a wonderful book about friendship. I've written female protagonists, but I still haven't been able to write about female friendship. Also, Burn Baby Burn by Meg Medina, about a Latin American girl growing up in North York in the 1970s.

NCRL: How would you encourage someone who's never read a graphic novel to pick one up?

GLY: I'd hand them a copy of "Persepolis". It shows the power of the medium and is told in an accessible enough way that even a first-time (graphic novel) reader can get into the story.

NCRL: Why graphic novels?

GLY: I really think there are certain types of information best communicated through sequential still pictures. Look at the cards in the back of airplane seats. It's a simple idea. Or instructions for building Legos. Those are basic comics. ... It would be next to impossible to convey that information through text. And with a video you don't have control over the speed. With sequential images, you can go as quickly or as slowly as you need. ... There are certain things — algorithms, mathematical concepts, chemical reactions in science — that are just made so much easier to understand if you describe them in pictures.

NCRL: What do you like to read?

GLY: As a kid, I read everything that most kids like to read, like Dr. Seuss. Then it was comics, Super Heroes, a little bit of sic-fi. Books like Enders Game, Speaker for the Dead, and Piers Anthony. As an adult, I really enjoyed Silent Spy.

NCRL: What are you working on now?

GLY: I just turned in the first draft for the fifth volume in the Secret Coders series. We'll be doing six books in all. I'm also doing the New Superman series for DC Comics, which is about a 17-year-old Chinese kid who inherits some of Superman's powers. I'm doing a new series in "Avatar, the Last Airbender". And I'm doing my first nonfiction graphic novel, "Dragon Hoops", which will be out next year. It's about a high school basketball team I followed around for a year.

Award-winning graphic novelist and literary ambassador Gene Luen Yang will spend three days in North Central Washington next month, visiting with students at six high schools and headlining a public event at the Wenatchee Convention Center on Nov. 8.

The author of "American Born Chinese" and writer of DC Comics New Superman series is currently serving as the Library of Congress's National Ambassador for Young People's Literature and was recently awarded the MacArthur Genius Grant.

North Central Regional Library is hosting Yang from Nov. 7-9, bringing him to high schools in Wenatchee, East Wenatchee, Quincy, Moses Lake, Brewster and Omak. NCRL has provided copes of "American Born Chinese" — the first graphic novel to be nominated for a National Book Award — to the schools.

Yang will be the featured speaker at a free public event on Nov. 8 at the Wenatchee Convention Center. He will talk at 6 p.m., with a book signing to follow. The event will also feature a booth faire with NCRL's makerspace program, art installations by Eastmont High School students, A Book For All Seasons, Galaxy Comics, children's book author and illustrator Erik Brooks, Wenatchee Public Library, Wenatchee Mini Maker Faire, and more.

"NCRL is thrilled to welcome world-class author and artist Gene Luen Yang to Central Washington Schools and the Convention Center," said Angela Morris, NCRL's associate director of public services.

"We are committed to encouraging children and young people to love reading, so we are proud that Mr. Yang promotes the concept of 'exploring the world through books' through his work as Ambassador of Young People's Literature," Morris added.

As ambassador, Yang's platform is Reading Without Walls. He is challenging young readers to expand their horizons and read books featuring characters who don't look or live like themselves; books on a topic they know little about; and books in a format they don't normally read, such as graphic novels or books in verse.

Yang, the son of Chinese immigrants, often tackles issues of race in his books. In a recent interview with Comic Riffs, he said, "There are a lot of walls between cultures that reading can help bridge; reading is a way to get to know people on a deeper level."

He began making comics and graphic novels in fifth grade. He spent 17 years a science teacher in Oakland, Calif., as he pursued his work as an illustrator and graphic novel writer. In 2006, "American Born Chinese" was published, winning the American Library Association's Printz Award and an Eisner Award for Best Graphic Album, in addition to being shortlisted for the National Book Award.

Later, his two-novel set, Boxers & Saints, was also nominated for a National Book Award and won the L.A. Times Book Prize.

He has also written a book series on coding and has written and illustrated several Superman comics, including the New Superman series.

In January, the 43-year-old was appointed the National Ambassador for Young People's Literature. He was named a MacArthur Fellow and awarded the MacArthur Genius Grant last month.

North Central Regional Library is bringing several speakers to libraries in October in partnership with Humanities Washington.

First up, scholar Lance Rhoades will present a multi-media program on Mary Shelley's masterpiece Frankenstein at the Entiat, Cashmere, Quincy and Soap Lake branches.

The tale of a scientist driven mad by his obsession to animate the dead has resonated widely in the popular imagination, most notably in theater and cinema. Rhoades will lead a conversation about how the work, more than two centuries after its publication, continues to serve as an allegory in debates about technology, slavery and universal suffrage.

Rhoades regularly lectures on the history of literature and film and serves as a program director for the Mercer Island Library and Arts Council.

Washington State Poet Laureate Tod Marshal will give a poetry reading and presentation at the Chelan Public Library on Oct 6 at 7 p.m.

Marshal is the state's poetry spokesperson for 2016-2018. As well as a poet, he is a humanities professor at Gonzaga University. His poems have been published in numerous journals and he has written several books, most recently Bugle (2014), which won the Washington State Book Award.

The Washington State Poet Laureate program works to build awareness and appreciation for poetry through public readings, workshops and presentations.

Author and professor Dr. Cornell Clayton will explore political polarization in a program at Winthrop Public Library on Oct. 6 at 5 p.m.

Clayton is director of the Thomas S. Foley Institute for Public Policy and Public Service at Washington State University. In his program, "Political Incivility and Polarization in America," he will look at the relationship between civility and democratic participation as he's observed and recorded over the last 30 years.

Next up, scholar David Fenner will present "Islam 101: Perceptions, Misconceptions, and Context for the 21st Century" at Twisp Public Library on Oct. 13 at 6 p.m.

Fenner strives to promote a greater understanding of Islam, its history and its place in the modern world. The discussion will address topics such as who is Mohammed, what is the Qur-an, and the use and history of head scarves.

Fenner's interest in Islam dates back to his experience as a young man living in the Sultanate of Oman on the Arabian Peninsula for six years. He retired from the University of Washington in 2007 as the assistant vice provost for International Education after a career that included establishing exchange programs with universities in Egypt, Morocco, Uzbekistan, Turkey and Pakistan.

He and his wife later founded an educational center for Arab and Western students on the Arabian Peninsula.

Finally, radio host and producer Amanda Wilde will talk about the influences of Bing Crosby, Jimi Hendrix and Kurt Cobain on technology, business and the notoriety of Washington state.

Wilde's program will address how Washington was a rich breeding ground for these three distinct and revolutionary musicians to push artistic and technological limits to break new ground in their eras and genres of music.

Wilde was a key figure in the development of the cutting-edge Seattle music station KEXP, hosting its afternoon drive show for 12 years. She currently hosts and produces the music program The Swing Years and Beyond for KUOW. In 2014, she was honored by Seattle Women in Jazz for her contributions to the jazz community.

North Central Washington readers collectively logged more than 92,000 hours of reading this summer.

Children and adults who participated in North Central Regional Library’s annual summer reading program kept track of their hours of reading to win a range of prizes.

In all, 6,768 children signed up at their local libraries and another 535 teens, children and adults signed up online for the program, designed to keep kids reading during the long summer months out of school. They recorded a total of 92,348 hours (that’s more than 5.5 million minutes) — surpassing last summer’s 75,726 hours.

The summer reading program is a great antidote to the summer slide, when children tend to lose reading skills, said NCRL Executive Director Dan Howard. “Kids that read over the summer perform better when school resumes in the fall.

The books, the amazing prizes like bikes and iPads, and the free programs make our summer reading program a fun and effective way to inspire reading among our children, Howard added.

Prizes donated by businesses around the region also included book collections, Kindle Fires, waterpark passes, movie passes, and toys.

Soap Lake readers fueled the increase in reading hours, logging 2,687 more hours this summer than in 2015. They were followed by Grand Coulee readers, who tallied 2,262 more hours this year.

Also of note, Wenatchee Public Library had the highest number of kids who read at least 10 hours — 495; and every child who signed up for the program at the Republic Library clocked at least 10 hours of reading.

It's 3 p.m. on a recent Monday afternoon and children are lined up outside the Bookmobile parked at Eastmont County Park in East Wenatchee.

As librarian Mark Kapral opens the door and lets them in, they begin peppering him with requests. Do you have any Pokemon books? The second Harry Potter book? Diary of a Wimpy Kid? Cool science experiments? Anything about cats? Kapral begins scanning the shelves that line the interior of the van — filled with a variety of popular children’s books — and quickly finds something for each of them.

They all leave the mobile library with something that has them smiling.

Unlike the many rural schools it visits for nine months of the year, North Central Regional Library’s Bookmobile does not get the summer off. Since school let out in June, Kapral and a team of bookmobile librarians have been visiting summer school programs, day camps, churches, free lunch sites, remote communities without libraries, the Wenatchee Valley Farmers Market, Rocky Reach Dam and other locations to get books into the hands of children.

"I love doing this," Kapral said.

Many of the children come in knowing exactly what they want. Book 2 of this series or the latest release from that series. The Bookmobile is stocked with multiple copies of popular series' like Dork Diaries and Harry Potter, and other favorites like The Lego Book. Others have more general requests, like “a book with cats in it.” One boy looking for books can’t remember the series he’s reading, but knows it starts with an “M”. Kapral asks some key questions and ultimately gets the boy to remember the name.

On this particular Monday, Kapral has visited a church summer program, Grant and Cascade elementary schools in East Wenatchee,a free lunch program at Kenroy Park, the YMCA day camp, and finally the Eastmont Parks and Recreation summer program. By the end of the day, more than 350 books had been checked out.

As kids leave with books clutched tightly in their arms, many are so anxious to get started that they flop into the grass nearby and start reading.

With a little less than a month of summer left, most of North Central Regional Library's branch locations are planning parties to celebrate the end of a successful Summer Reading Program.

Many of the libraries experienced record numbers of kids signing up for summer reading, and children and adults have logged thousands of reading hours, making them eligible for a variety of prizes that include bikes, iPods, tablets and gift cards.

Here's a rundown of parties planned this month at libraries around North Central Washington:

Wednesday, Aug. 17

Manson Public Library

11 a.m. to noon

Manson Bay Park (across Highway 150 from the library).

Games, crafts, food and prizes, including a Kindle Fire, iPod and Slidewaters passes

The Pacific Science Center's Science on Wheels program will be visiting eight North Central Regional Library branches this month.

The program offers fun, hands-on science activities designed to enhance our Summer Reading Program and will focus on wellness, fitness and sports.

Monday, July 25

10 a.m.: Cashmere Library

6:30 p.m., Wenatchee Public Library

Tuesday, July 26

10 a.m., Quincy Public Library

2 p.m., Wenatchee Public Library

Wednesday, July 27

10 a.m., Soap Lake Library

3 p.m., Ephrata Public Library

Thursday, July 28

3 p.m., Curlew Library

Friday, July 29

10 a.m., Republic Library

3:30 p.m., Pateros Library

All of the libraries except Curlew will be offering the Food Detectives program. Here is how the Pacific Science Center describes the program: Do you have the energy to learn about a calorie? Investigate the nutrients humans need and absorb how the five food groups help the body function. Strap on your safety goggles as you perform experiments to see which foods contain essential nutrients. Curlew will be offering Cells "R" Us. Here's the description of that program: Cells, cells everywhere ... from the tips of your toes to the ends of your hair. Do all cells look alike? This and other questions will be answered as you use microscopes to distinguish between various cells and learn about their specialized functions.

Every summer, North Central Regional Library hires puppeteers to perform at its 30 libraries.

For the past few years, the dynamic duo of Brian Higgins, a Wenatchee High School teacher, and Mark Wavra, a teacher at Eastmont High School, have put on the shows. This summer, Wavra has stepped out and Higgings will only be doing half the summer. So the library district hired new puppeteers — all with acting and musical backgrounds — to take the summer show on the road.

They are:

Skylar Gingrich, 27, of Wenatchee, who recently completed a 27-month stint as a Peace Corps volunteer in Thailand. After the summer, she will be moving to Spain to teach English to children.

Mira Cassiano, 18, of Wenatchee, a 2015 graduate of Wenatchee High School and Wenatchee Valley College who will be leaving this fall for an 18-month mission in Brazil for her church.

Gillian Eggers, 18, of East Wenatchee, who graduated earlier this month from Eastmont High School. She will be attending college this fall to pursue studies in music and art therapy.

The three have adapted stories in a series of skits that include Sheldon the Shark, Little Red Riding Hood, Ms. Know-It-All, and a story based on a folk tale from India. The shows will be intermixed with music (all three puppeteers play the ukulele) and sing-alongs.

The five-county library district has been doing the puppet shows each summer for the past 16 years. The program was started by longtime children's librarian Leslie Marshall at Wenatchee Public Library and later expanded to all the branch libraries.

"They were so popular and I just thought everyone should have puppet shows," Marshall said.

The new puppeteers will start their shows on June 21 and will continue throughout the summer to late August.

The stories that make it into Jack Nisbet's popular books on Northwest history are really just the beginning. They have information he gathers from written documents, personal interviews and exploring interesting places.

But he knows there's much more to learn.

His visits to schools and libraries and other venues around the region, giving talks about the stories he's researched, is where some of the best learning happens, he said.

"There is always someone in the audience who can tell me something new and the story evolves," he said. "You do a book and that's really just the starting point."

The Spokane author and naturalist will bring his storytelling to seven North Central Regional Library branches this spring and summer. He will present different stories from his published collection of essays, "Ancient Places: People and Landscape in the Emerging Northwest."

Here's his schedule:

May 24, Moses Lake Library, 6 p.m., the story of 20th century painter and terra cotta sculptor Leno Pristini of Clayton, Wash.

June 1, Okanogan Library, 1 p.m., presenting some of the Earth's most spectacular lighting phenomena from two different points of view: fur trader David Thompson around 1800 and an astronaut aboard the International Space Station two centuries later.

June 1, Omak Library, 6 p.m., the story of a farmer who found a meteorite on a slope above the Willamette River in 1902 is linked to Northwest mining, museum politics, Ice Age floods, human nature and the history of the universe.

June 7, Tonasket Library, 6 p.m., the story of the 1872 earthquake that rattled much of the Northwest as recounted from oral accounts, written descriptions and the latest scientific research.

June 9, Twisp Library, 6 p.m., the story of amateur paleobotanist Wes Wehr, who founded Republic's Stonerose Fossil Center, whose busy life also included musical composition, success as a school landscape artist, and an array of famous friends.

July 13, Waterville Library, 11 a.m., the farmer who found the meteorite near the Willamette River.

July 13, Wenatchee Public Library, 6 p.m., the story of the 1872 earthquake that rattled much of the Northwest.

Nisbet has written several books, most of them about David Thompson and naturalist David Douglas. He said that during his research and travels, he's also heard a number of other stories about Northwest history and geography that sparked his interest. He decided to look into some of them, which resulted in his latest book.

His love of Northwest history started while he worked as a writer for a weekly newspaper in Stevens County in the 1970s. But his storytelling really started from childhood, he said.

"I grew up in a storytelling family in the south that went outside all the time," he said. "It's that simple. I hear about something and I just keep following my curiosity."

"That's one reason I like to take kids out exploring," he added. "They don't overthink things. They just follow their nose and explore."

He said his presentations will be a mix of telling stories and a Powerpoint presentation with photos of places and research materials. His talks are about 40 minutes, followed by another 20 minutes of questions and allowing the audience to talk about their own experiences or knowledge.

North Central Washington residents are invited to explore history and cultural diversity through music, dance, and interactive presentations offered by Humanities Washington.

NCRL is bringing four Humanities Washington programs to seven libraries in late April and early May.

HISTORY IN YOUR BACKYARD

Author and anthropologist Llyn De Danaan will present History in Your Backyard, a program about how she discovered the extraordinary story of a pioneering Native American woman and how everyone can explore the history of their own communities.

De Danaan, who lives in Shelton, has written extensively about the history of Japanese Americans, Native Americans, and European Americans in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

SAFFRON & HONEY: MUSLIMS, JEWS, AND CHRISTIANS IN MEDIEVAL SPAIN

Educator and percussionist Antonio Gómez will present Saffron & Honey: Muslims, Jews, and Christians in Medieval Spain, which tells the story of how collaboration between three world religions in Spain led to advances in science, math, poetry, music, architecture and politics that would ripple throughout Europe and the world.

Gómez, who lives in Puyallup, has developed programming for PBS and the Experience Music Project, and formerly worked as education services manager for KCTS 9 public television.

RAP 101: THE MESSAGE BEHIND THE MUSIC

Eric Davis will present Rap 101: The Message Behind the Music. He is a member of the sociology faculty at Bellevue college and the University of Washington Consulting Alliance.

Davis, who lives in Tacoma, uses music as a catalyst for discussion about popular culture, diversity, and social justice.

FANDANGO AND THE DELIBERATE COMMUNITY

Yesenia Hunter, a Mexican writer and musician who grew up in the Yakima Valley, will present Fandango and the Deliberate Community. She will teach the history, method and context behind fandango in a participatory program that will involve music, dance, and prose.

Hunter has published several books and lives in Yakima.

Humanities Washington is a nonprofit organization that promotes cultural education and history through presentations, speakers, and exhibits around the state.